57. Questions for the Goddess Part 2 (Skills)

“Demons, dragons and some of the monsters possess them as Abilities.
As for skills, they do exist but there are almost no humans who are able to acquire them.
Ingesting poison and overcoming it without an antidote is normally impossible, right?
For you, the skill acquisition restrictions have been released thanks to my divine blessing, so there’s the possibility of you learning the skill as long as you have a chance, but it is difficult.
In your case, evading the danger in advance will be easier thanks to the [Sense Danger] skill you earned this time.
You could also use the counteragents that you have obtained, or wear accessories made from monsters that possesses those monster’s Abilities.
Though if you defeat one of the Evil God’s apostles who have added resistance skills, I can purify and grant them to you preferentially.”

“I obtained a [Cooking] skill, does that mean that there are skills unrelated to combat?”

“No, skills are fundamentally limited to techniques from combat-related domains.
Production-class skills are also things that will eventually lead to having an advantage in combat.
The [Cooking] skill is an exception. In the past, one of the members of a party of heroes with meritorious deeds requested that I create a [Cooking] skill, so it was produced through granting that wish.
That’s why there is the possibility of gaining a temporary status boost depending on the ingredients.
Based on the particulars, it should be categorised as Legendary Class, but the person in question hoped for it to be a General Skill so as to open up a path for many people to acquire it.
That said, because a status boost effect was instilled afterwards, there aren’t many with the aptitude, so it wasn’t able to propagate as much as that person had hoped…”

It was unexpectedly a rare skill.
The principle of being able to boost one’s status through cooking was mysterious, but it might be convenient if I have Steph, who seems to have the aptitude, learn it.

“What were the circumstances behind the creation of [Flying Sword Techniques]?
If someone has the huge MP needed to make several swords float, it seems better for them to just cast magic to be honest.”

“In ancient times, there was such a sport.
One where people would cast magic to manipulate swords, deciding the victor that way.
The manoeuvrability was more effective than magic, so it was even used for monster hunting.
Flying swords can’t carry one’s body weight, so it looks like preparing specialised swords that are light and sharp were the best.”

I see. I’ll write that down in my mental notepad.

“Is skill integration not possible?
Honestly, I possess too many skills, and I don’t feel like I can use them properly on the spur of the moment.”

“In regards to that, if you listen to my request, I’ll give you something good.”

“Request? How rare.”

“Yes. For my request, I’d like to recycle the skills you won’t use.”

“R-recycle?”

“I already explained that half of the skills are configured from Gifts, right?
In short, even if they hadn’t been used, just by possessing the skill, you are hoarding away Gifts.
That’s why it’s alright for you to learn them, but I’d like to ‘Seal’ the other skills that you don’t use, along with the ones don’t really match your tastes and those that are only there for backward compatibility.”

“Seal?”

“Yes.
The information on your skill levels and the physical skill-related experience will remain, but I’d like you to send back the Gift part itself.
That is what I mean by sealing.”

“So the sealed skills will become unusable?”

“When it becomes necessary, you can once again acquire it after a short period of rehabilitation.
If you let me seal the skills, I’ll grant you the magic skill that allows for skill organisation and integration, [Skill Magic].
When you use [Skill Magic], you can horizontally integrate similar skills of the same rank and vertically integrate skills of the same system with those skills of a higher rank, so it should help to organise your skills column.”

Horizontal integration would probably be, in other words, being able to combine [Fire Magic], [Water Magic], [Wind Magic], and [Earth Magic] to form a single skill called, say, [General Magic].
And vertical integration would be something like being able to combine [Fire Magic] with [Fire Spirit Magic].

There are indeed several skills that I do not use most of the time.
For example, the [Throwing Axe Techniques] I learned during the verification of throwing spears.
Even if I get the chance to throw axes in the future, it would be better to substitute it with [Throwing Techniques] rather than trying to raise the level of [Throwing Axe Techniques].
I have shurikens, knives, and spears for specialised throwing skills, as well as [Steel Thread Skills].
Furthermore, the separation barrier fragments are extremely handy as a throwing object, so I have no incentive to purposely chose throwing axes.

“There’s one more thing I have to warn you about.
There’s a limit to the amount of skills that a soul can retain, and as you approach the limit, acquiring skills will become more difficult.
To be specific, once the number of skills exceeds one hundred, the degree of difficulty of new acquisitions will double compared to when you had zero.”

“Oi oi, isn’t this extremely important information!”

I used [Appraisal] to open the database and try to count the number of acquired skills.
Let’s see… I have 64.
There is still some room before it reaches 100, but if new acquisitions become more difficult as it increases, I’d like to condense the number henceforth.
Since it seems like I can seal and archive the skills that I have acquired, I won’t need to feel conflicted about it being a waste to lose the skills I went through the trouble to learn.

“I get it.
It doesn’t seem to be a demerit to me either.”

Instead, I should say that it’s nothing but a merit.

“Thank you.
However, [Skill Magic] can only be used at the altar of the Samsara Temples or places that conform to that, so be warned.”

“I understand.
…Huh?
But I wasn’t at the Samsara Temple when I received the oracle from Father Solow.
Are the requirements for [Oracle] and [Skill Magic] different?”

“[Oracle] is something that allows the diviner to draw out the status information associated with the target and write it down, so it can be used even when not at a temple.
[Skill Magic] requires an interactive exchange of skill information, so it cannot be done just anywhere.
It is similar to how sending large amounts of data on a portable terminal is difficult.”

The goddess used a blunt metaphor to explain.

“As far as what the priests of the Samsara Temples can see, I didn’t have such a high aptitude, but isn’t the growth of my skills unexpectedly fast?
Even when I taught [Lightning Magic] to the children’s group and the other emissaries, it took longer than I expected.
Even while taking your divine blessing into account, it seems the difference is rather large…”

“That’s a result of [No Fatigue].
Think back to your previous life.
Don’t people get irritated when there’s only a little bit to go before they get the hang of something?
Since you kept up with those operations that require extreme powers of concentration without rest, compared to normal people who do so while resting at times, your unit time efficiency is better.
A normal person would have erratic levels of concentration over the timespan of an hour, whereas you would maintain your ability to concentrate for the entire hour.”

It might be so if she says so.
Even in my previous life, I have had times when I was concentrating so much that I forgot myself, but I feel like that has increased especially after reincarnating.

“I felt like I acquired [Appraisal] rather easily for a Legendary Class skill, but is the reason the same for that?
I had a considerable amount of trouble with [Telepathic Communication] and [Spirit Magic] that are skills from the same Legendary Class though…”

“That’s because something else played a big factor in that.
Right after you reincarnated, you were in a state of mind where you desired information, even if it was just a little.
On top of that, because it was dark and you couldn’t see anything but the moon, your attention was focused solely on that.
Furthermore, you possess specific knowledge that most of the people of Marquekt are unaware of, like what kind of thing ‘the thing called the moon’ is, because of the knowledge from your previous life.
Of course, there is also the major premise of all the skill restrictions being released due to my divine blessing.”

The goddess did not mention it but the number of acquired skills might also be related.
I possessed zero during the acquisition of [Appraisal], and yet I already possessed dozens of skills by the time I acquired [Telepathic Communication] and [Spirit Magic].

“Come to think of it, Father Solow also lamented about having stopped at gaining your attention.
He served under you for so many years already, won’t you grant him your divine blessing?”

“For divine blessings, those with a combat profession take precedence no matter what.
However, Solow-san has also worked really devotedly so I did think that I would have to grant him a divine blessing if I have a surplus of Gifts.
With the Curse you retrieved this time and the stock accumulated so far, I will be able to grant it in the near future.
His birthday is close, so perhaps I should make it a surprise present for then.”

Saying that, the goddess smiles mischievously.
She was quite an eccentric person but when she makes this kind of expression, my head feels like it’ll turn to mush.

“Speaking of which, in regards to the [Prayer] skill you told me about last time, I didn’t have a chance to visit the temple.
I tried praying now and then, even in the Crow’s Nest, but I couldn’t acquire the skill.”

When I said that, the goddess looked a little astonished.

“Um… It’s not a skill or a spell, so there’s no effect if you simply pray, you know?
Wasn’t it the same in your former world?”

“W-well, that’s true but…”

I never thought that a god of a fantasy world would advocate common sense to me.

“There are hubs for distributing Gifts at the various Samsara Temples too, and linking one’s soul at the altar there is called [Prayer].
I think asking the priest is the quickest method, but you may be able to master it through trial and error.
The trick should be similar to that of [Skill Magic] so it may be better to test that first.”

I see, I’ll promptly test it when I return.

“What are Abilities?
How are they different from skills?”

“Abilities are innate powers that monsters and demons possess.
There are some that are similar to skills in effect, but since they are innate properties, they cannot be acquired later.
Furthermore, another trait is that unlike skills, they are under the jurisdiction of the god who governs magic, Orja.”

“Does that Orja fellow also aid monsters?
Aren’t monsters under the influence of the Evil God?”

“Orja is a crazy god and doesn’t distinguish between good and evil.
Demons can be said to have been on the benevolent gods’ side originally, but since the guardian deity of demons, Orja, went mad, it became easier for the Evil God to influence demons more than humans.
Nevertheless, the demons that live an idyllic lifestyle and possess reason are still preferable.
As for monsters, there is no longer any hope for them to return to our side.
And Orja even grants the blessing of abilities to those monsters.”

“Can’t you suppress that Orja fellow?”

“Orja is connected to the collective unconscious and deep interdependence of the demons, so bringing Orja down would cause the annihilation of the demons.”

So there’s no choice but to leave them alone.

“Isn’t it dangerous if someone falls into Growth Sleep within a dungeon?”

“Basically, I’ve made it so there won’t be any drowsiness appearing in the middle of an exploration.
To be more accurate, there will be a faint feeling of drowsiness, but the functioning of the brain won’t drop.
With that, I get the person themself search for a safe place to sleep.
Then, when they finally reach a safe zone inside the dungeon and relax their mind, the drowsiness will become stronger and Growth Sleep will begin.
For dungeon explorations in Marquekt, people generally anticipate Growth Sleep and employ extra personnel.
Though bringing extra personnel also has a secondary effect: raising the rate of returning alive from the dungeon exploration.
Even if there is no level-up, it’s somewhat hard to be completely annihilated in an accident.
Furthermore, Growth Sleep also has a recovery effect on HP and MP in addition to becoming stronger through raising one’s level, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Then, if we employ members who are about to rise in level when going through the dungeon, recovery is possible en route?”

“It is in theory.
If the level up timing is perfectly matched, it happens.”

“I’m not talking about the amount of experience… but can’t the amount of Gifts needed to level up be grasped quantitatively?”

“The enhancement through the Gifts is organic, so it’s difficult.
It changes depending on the enchantments up to that point, and it also depends on the condition of the person’s soul.
The higher the level, the increase in the already enhanced parts, so in order to enhance the remaining parts that are difficult to enhance, raising one’s level will become more difficult. All the more, since it’s necessary to balance the already enhanced parts.
Moreover, since there is a limit to the total amount of Gifts a soul can retain, a state where a person’s body won’t raise in level any further also exists.
…Well, from what I’ve seen until now, there are only a few people like that.”

“I think it would be convenient if I could tell when it seems like my level is close to rising, but is that possible somehow?”

“Hmm… Level-ups are a reallocation of Gifts, so it’s not like there isn’t anything like an omen but at present there aren’t any skills to sense something like that.”